I am a long time fan of Jordan, but have been very disappointed in his last few books. He seems to be trying to stretch the series out into more books than his has plot for. After Winter's Heart (the previous book) I had hoped he was moving out of that pattern...but he is back into his rut with Crossroads of Twilight. Even if you are planning on sticking with the series, you can skip this book and just pick up the next one in a couple of years.

-Anonymous

I bought both Books 9 and 10 the first day they were out - in hardback. I love the Wheel of Time series and am currently rereading it to get over my depression about Book 10. I had planned to get it read in a couple of days. By forcing myself back to it, I was able to finish in a couple of weeks! Nothing happens in this book. Either Jordan is trying to milk the series for all he's worth or he can't figure out how to end it. After reading the prologue I had to wonder who all those people were. Aren't more than 1500 characters enough??? One other thing has really bothered me about all the books (which mostly I love) is the fact that Jordan refuses to use whom in the objective case. And he says &quot;if he was&quot; instead of &quot;if he were&quot;, just like a country song! Please, RJ, put some substance in the next book - and hurry! I waited 15 months for Book 10 and was so disappointed. Make Book 11 worth your readers money and time.

Filler, Filler and More Filler!

by Jim on 1/20/2003

Don't worry about seeing any spoilers ... absolutely nothing happens in the 680 pages. If you are a fan of the series this book will just aggravate you -- it is literally one of the worst books I have ever read. Considering how great the earlier books in the series were and how much I relished reading and rereading them, this book left me feeling betrayed (by both RJ and his editors). If you follow the series then you’ll have to read this book no matter how bad it is, but I would suggest holding out until it is at your library so you can avoid kicking yourself for wasting your money.
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Jordan is still dragging is feet.

on 4/6/2003

I am a long time fan of Jordan, but have been very disappointed in his last few books. He seems to be trying to stretch the series out into more books than his has plot for. After Winter's Heart (the previous book) I had hoped he was moving out of that pattern...but he is back into his rut with Crossroads of Twilight. Even if you are planning on sticking with the series, you can skip this book and just pick up the next one in a couple of years.
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Blah, blah, blah

by Texasbug on 6/3/2003

I bought both Books 9 and 10 the first day they were out - in hardback. I love the Wheel of Time series and am currently rereading it to get over my depression about Book 10. I had planned to get it read in a couple of days. By forcing myself back to it, I was able to finish in a couple of weeks! Nothing happens in this book. Either Jordan is trying to milk the series for all he's worth or he can't figure out how to end it. After reading the prologue I had to wonder who all those people were. Aren't more than 1500 characters enough??? One other thing has really bothered me about all the books (which mostly I love) is the fact that Jordan refuses to use whom in the objective case. And he says &quot;if he was&quot; instead of &quot;if he were&quot;, just like a country song! Please, RJ, put some substance in the next book - and hurry! I waited 15 months for Book 10 and was so disappointed. Make Book 11 worth your readers money and time.
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Product Overview

In the tenth book of The Wheel of Time series from the "New York Times" No. 1 bestselling author Robert Jordan, the world and the characters stand at a crossroads, and the world approaches twilight, when the power of the Shadow grows stronger.

Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn himself, has cleansed the Dark One's taint from the male half of the True Source, and everything has changed. Yet nothing has, for only men who can channel believe that saidin is clean again, and a man who can channel is still hated and feared-even one prophesied to save the world. Now Rand must gamble again, with himself at stake, and he cannot be sure which of his allies are really enemies.

Chapter One

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Rhannon Hills. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Born among the groves and vineyards that covered much of the rugged hills, the olive trees in evergreen rows, the ordered vines leafless till spring, the cold wind blew west and north across the prosperous farms dotting the land between the hills and the great harbor of Ebou Dar. The land lay winter fallow still, but men and women were already oiling plowshares and tending harness, preparing for the planting to come. They paid little mind to the trains of heavily laden wagons moving east along the dirt roads carrying people who wore odd clothes and spoke with odd accents. Many of the strangers seemed to be farmers themselves, familiar implements lashed to their wagon boxes, and in their wagons unfamiliar saplings with roots balled in rough cloth, but they were heading on toward more distant land. Nothing to do with life here and now. The Seanchan hand lay lightly on those who did not contest Seanchan rule, and the farmers of the Rhannon Hills had seen no changes in their lives. For them, rain or the lack of it had always been the true ruler.

West and north the wind blew, across the broad blue-green expanse of the harbor, where hundreds of huge ships sat rocking at anchor on choppy swells, some bluff-bowed and rigged with ribbed sails, others long and sharp-prowed, with men laboring to match their sails and rigging to those of the wider vessels. Not nearly so many ships still floated there as had only a few days before, though. Many now lay in the shallows, charred wrecks heeled over on their sides, and burned frames settling in the deep gray mud like blackened skeletons. Smaller craft skittered about the harbor, slanting under triangular sails or crawling on oars like many-legged waterbugs, most carrying workers and supplies to the ships that still floated. Other small vessels and barges rode tethered to what appeared to be treetrunks shorn of branches, rising out of the blue-green water, and from those men dove holding stones to carry them down swiftly to sunken ships below, where they tied ropes to whatever could be hauled up for salvage. Six nights ago death had walked across the water here, the One Power killing men and women and ships in darkness split by silver lightnings and hurtling balls of fires. Now, the rough rolling harbor, filled with furious activity, seemed at peace by comparison, the chop giving up spray to the wind that blew north and west across the mouth of the River Eldar, where it widened into the harbor, north and west and inland.

Sitting cross-legged atop a boulder covered with brown moss, on the reed-fringed bank of the river, Mat hunched his shoulders against the wind and cursed silently. There was no gold to be found here, no women or dancing, no fun. Plenty of discomfort, though. In short, it was the last sort of place he would choose, normally. The sun stood barely its own height above the horizon, the sky overhead was pale slate gray, and thick purple clouds moving in from the sea threatened rain. Winter hardly seemed winter without snow – he had yet to see a single flake in Ebou Dar – but a cold damp morning wind off the water could serve as well as snow to chill a man to the bone. Four nights since he had ridden out of the city in a storm, yet his throbbing hip seemed to think he was still soaked to the skin and clinging to a saddle. This was no weather or time of day for a man to be out by his own choice. He wished he had thought to bring a cloak. He wished he had stayed in bed.

Ripples in the land hid Ebou Dar, just over a mile to the south, and hid him from the city, as well, but there was not a tree or anything more than scrub brush in sight. Being in the open this way made him feel as though ants were crawling under his skin. He should be safe, though. His plain brown woolen coat and cap were nothing like the clothes he was known by in the city. Instead of black silk, a drab woolen scarf hid the scar around his neck, and the collar of his coat was turned up to hide that, as well. Not a bit of lace or a thread of embroidery. Dull enough for a farmer milking cows. No one he needed to avoid would know him to recognize if they saw him. Not unless they were close. Just the same, he tugged the cap a bit lower.

"You intend to stay out here much longer, Mat?" Noal’s tattered dark blue coat had seen better days, but then so had he. Stooped and white-haired, the broken-nosed old fellow was squatting on his heels below the boulder, fishing off the riverbank with a bamboo pole. Most of his teeth were missing, and sometimes he felt at a gap with his tongue as though surprised to find the empty space. "It’s cold, in case you haven’t noticed. Everybody always thinks it’s warm in Ebou Dar, but winter is cold everywhere, even places that make Ebou Dar feel like Shienar. My bones crave a fire. Or a blanket, anyway. A man can be snug with a blanket, if he’s out of the wind. Are you going to do anything but stare downriver?"

When Mat only glanced at him, Noal shrugged and went back to peering at the tarred wooden float bobbing among the sparse reeds. Now and then he worked one gnarled hand as though his crooked fingers felt the chill particularly, but if so, it was his own fault. The old fool had gone wading in the shallows to scoop up minnows for bait with a basket that now sat half-submerged and anchored by a smooth stone at the edge of the water. Despite his complaints about the weather, Noal had come along to the river without urging or invitation. From things he had said, everyone he cared about was long years dead, and the truth of it was, he seemed almost desperate for any sort of company. Desperate, indeed, to choose Mat’s company when he could be five days from Ebou Dar by now. A man could cover a lot of ground in five days if he had reason to and a good horse. Mat had thought on that very subject often enough himself.

On the far side of the Eldar, half-hidden by one of the marshy islands that dotted the river, a broad-beamed rowboat backed oars, and one of the crew stood up and fished in the reeds with a long boathook. Another oarsman helped him heave what he had caught into the boat. At this distance, it looked like a large sack. Mat winced and shifted his eyes downriver. They were still finding bodies, and he was responsible. The innocent died along w

Specifications

Author Info

Robert Jordan

As a child, Robert Jordan (born James Oliver Rigney, Jr.) was exposed to writing by his older brother, who read Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Mark Twain to him while babysitting. At the age of 20, Jordan went to Vietnam, eventually serving two tours of duty and receiving several decorations. After the war, he earned a degree in physics at the Citadel, a military college, and became a nuclear engineer for the Navy. Starting in 1984, Jordan wrote a series of eight well-received books based on the Conan the Barbarian character created by Robert E. Howard in 1932. Toward the end of this series, Jordan began work on the books upon which his name will ultimately be remembered. THE EYE OF THE WORLD, published in 1990, is the first book in his massive Wheel of Time series. Averaging between 700 and 1,000 pages, each new volume in this series seems to outsell its predecessor. Projected to span a total of 10 volumes, the Wheel of Time is often cited as the closest an American has come to writing a fantasy epic as well-rounded as Tolkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS. In the meantime, Jordan has written westerns, historical novels, dance criticism, and other non-fiction work under several different pseudonyms.